Matthew Woodring Stover

I've been a fan of Stover's since reading his Revenge of the Sith novelization.

Unencumbered from playing within a franchise, Stover's writing goes into some very interesting places. His action scenes are often the thing most people praise, and I'd agree, but the the intensity of the violence, coupled with the ideas at play in this book, create some very potent character moments that stick with you after reading. Moments shift from politics, to philosophy, to straight action, and it's all interesting.

Not to mention the overarching concept: people in a futuristic Earth travelling to an alternate dimension as 'actors' having fantasy adventures that are recorded from their first person perspective, for the entertainment of people at home. This creates a fascinating frame and continuous concept on the nature of fiction and reality, how things can be crafted as a story, and our own fascinations with violence and drama.

Stover's ability to both utilize the recursive nature of this concept and allow his characters to recognize and transcend these frameworks is possibly the most powerful and useful idea in the whole book.

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After an intriguing start where Mace learns that his former padawan, Depa, has possibly committed a mass murder on civilians, he sets out to find her. She hides in the jungles on a planet whose inhabitants have been at war long before there were galactic war. Even if Mace won’t face it, his beloved Republic is not perfect. Yet he tries his best to honor Jedi principles and help the helpless, no matter the odds:

“There had never been light bright enough to drive back darkness like this; Mace could only hope to make of himself a light bright enough to cut through it.” (p. 152)

And the odds just get worse and worse.

I didn’t always find Mace sympathetic, but he was interesting. The world and characters likewise. The humor sometimes seemed forced. And of course, there were lots of long descriptions of fights and battles. I found them a bit boring, but I knew that was what I went into with this book. My main gripe is with Depa. It felt to me like Mace’ thoughts about her took up a lot of space, but she never really got enough space as a character in her own right.… (mehr)